Splatoon Sploon Squad
by wesleykim829
Summary: After unwittingly entering a tournament he does not want to participate in. Sunny must now fight to avoid embarrassing himself and his team. With his friends, Beanie and Toughie, and high-ranking player, Rider, the four of them must learn to work together and how to leap from amateur to pro in less than three days! This is a battle of pride now, it's either win or lose!
1. Morning at Inkopolis

Chapter 1 Splatoon: Sploon Squad

In an unknown place, there lies a city known as Inkopolis. This rather large city houses the world's most interesting creatures. They're known as Inklings! Inklings are squids, but that's just the beginning. They can transform into a human form! Intriguing is it not? But that's not all there is to know about Inklings. They love their fashion and they love their fun. What do they do for fun, you ask? 4-on-4 Turf Wars, a game where Inklings must shoot ink on the ground to expand their "turf". But enough of introductions, our story revolves around four young Inklings, And their many wacky adventures and misadventures throughout Inkopolis.

The sun is rising, and the city started bustling. Yes, it starts bustling even at this early hour. Back to the matter at hand, a young Inkling boy is just now starting to open his eyes. But he was still very tired, as soon as his eyes opened, he closed them just as fast. But he didn't keep them closed much longer, as he then reached for his phone and checked his music selection. He then picked the song called Maritime Memory, giving him a sense of nostalgia. It has been two years since he finally started doing Turf Wars. During those two years, there were these special events called Splatfests, held by Inkopolis's top idols, the Squid Sisters, two lovely Inkling girls with lovely singing voices. These Splatfests involved two teams, fighting in special Turf Wars where the contestants must pick a side and fight for it. Our young Inkling could only remember attending two of these Splatfests before simply ignoring the main event and just dancing. Our young Inkling, now fully awake from his time with his music, was trying to find out what outfit to wear today. The young Inkling is rather indecisive on certain things, and it didn't help that he wasn't that rich, nor was he that high of rank or "Freshness". But eventually, our Inkling finally found a some clothes to his liking. A pair of black, running shorts, a pair of blue and orange shoes, a plain yellow t-shirt, and finally a orange sun visor with a picture of an angry squid on it. After a minute or less, our Inkling is finally ready to get outside and enjoy it. But then his phone rang, shocking our Inkling and making him fall on his behind. Once the shock had past, the Inkling picked up his phone, and saw that someone named Beanie was calling him. Our Inkling then tapped on the button to answer.

"Hello?" the Inkling asked curiously. It didn't take long for a reply to come through.

"Hey, Sunny!" A voice cheerfully called out.

"Yo, what's up Beanie?" Sunny asked, smiling. "It's been a while."

"Well things have been going great!" Beanie exclaimed happily. "Say, do you want to hang out with me and Toughie for some Turf Wars?" Beanie excitedly asked. Sunny's eyes lit up. He nearly started jumping up and down, but he thankfully stopped himself.

"Oh heck yeah!" Sunny shouted, "I've been playing with strangers so much I've forgotten what it's like to play with people I know. I would gladly play with you guys again!" Beanie sounded very happy. Very, very happy.

"YES!" Beanie exclaimed through the phone. "All right, meet us at Inkopolis Plaza." And with that, Beanie hung up, ending the call. And leaving Sunny, uh. Well let's just say, that he's ecstatic.

"YEAHHHHHH!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, shaking his entire home with his voice along. Now he could stop himself from jumping up and down and running around his room. When he finally stopped, Sunny ran towards the door, yanking it open, and running off to the streets and to Inkopolis Plaza.


	2. Looking for a Teammate

Chapter 2 Splatoon: Sploon Squad

At Inkopolis Plaza, Beanie, an Inkling wearing a button-up shirt, black shorts, and of course, a beanie, was waiting with his friend, Toughie, another Inkling wearing simple jeans, t-shirt, and glasses. And they've waited for about an hour for Sunny to arrive.

" Man, Sunny is pretty slow, isn't he?" Toughie said, calmly. Beanie looked at his friend, still smiling.

"Hey, no need to worry," Beanie said. "He'll get here. You would know if you heard how happy he was."

"Doesn't help the fact that we haven't had the best luck, recently." Toughie stated. Beanie laughed sheepishly, yet still keeping his smile. But then, a familiar and cheerful voice called out to them.

"Hey guys!" He yelled, "I'm here!" The two Inklings turned to see that Sunny was there, running straight towards them. Both waved their hands and Sunny did the same. Sunny was then greeted by high and low fives.

"How's it been?" Toughie asked, smirking.

"Yeah, it's been a long time!" Exclaimed Beanie, still very cheerful. Sunny scratched his head, looking very sheepish.

"Sorry, I've just been kinda busy with some stuff, lately." Sunny explained. His friend nodded, before all three of them turned and headed straight towards Inkopolis Tower. While on the way, Sunny couldn't help but notice something, just a little off about the three of them. "Hey, guys?" Sunny called out. Beanie and Toughie stopped to look back at their friend. "I've just noticed that we only have three members on our team." Sunny stated. "You do know we need four to enter Turf Wars, right?" Beanie and Toughie both took glances at each other before glancing back at Sunny. Toughie, now pinching the bridge of his nose, sighed in defeat. Beanie was now the one looking sheepish, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Beanie answered.

"We were actually kinda hoping you wouldn't notice, but I guess that plans out the window." Toughie said. "But everyone's been real busy with that new tournament, happening in a day or two. What was it even called again?"

"The Twin Splat Tournament." Sunny answered, as his expression started to darken. Beanie place a hand on Sunny's shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Beanie said.

"Yeah, we'll find someone to join us." Toughie added, "I mean there's gotta be somebody not obsessed with that toxic carp." Toughie said, angrily. Sunny's dark expression had all but vanished, replaced with a very bright smile.

"Yeah, come on guys, let's go find our fourth teammate!" Sunny exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air.

"YE-HEH-AH, LET'S GET GOING!" Beanie yelled out. With that, the three young Inklings change back into their squid forms, and super-jumped to their destination!


	3. Introducing: Rider

Chapter 3 Splatoon: Sploon Squad

Sadly, after an hour of searching, the three young Inklings could not find anyone willing to spend a minute of their time on simple Turf War. In fact, no-one wanted to spend a minute explaining why they wouldn't do it. They all simply said no. "AHHGG! That stinking tournament is ruining all the fun," Toughie blurted out. His two friends all looked down, walking along, hoping that luck would be nice to them. But an hour of rejection will take its toll. Even the bright sky darkened with the moods of the Inklings. Toughie's face was filled with pent up frustration and stress, while Sunny's long face grew even longer. Even Beanie's cheerful attitude started to crack under the negativity.

"I'M SO LOST!" Beanie blurted out, "What are we supposed to do? We're not going to Turf War without a fourth teammate!"

"You're right, Beanie," Sunny suddenly shouted out. His two friends looked up to him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Toughie asked, "You need to be elaborate."

"We won't go in missing a teammate, but we won't go and find some random from the street!" Sunny exclaimed. "We're going to show them what a team that plays for fun is like!" Sunny yelled out, pumping a fist towards the sky. His two friends looked at Sunny, before smiling. "You guys ready!" Sunny firmly asked.

"You bet, Sunny!" Toughie confirmed.

"Yeah, let's show them!" Beanie yelled out. The three Inklings then super jumped to find their new teammate. And this time, they will only accept the best, and 'no' is not an option.

Our young Inklings have landed back at Inkopolis Plaza, and they all immediately searched for a worthy teammate. They were not messing around this time. They eyed a girl with headphones, listening to exciting music, two boys wearing matching hoodies and sunglasses that covered their eyes, no doubt intentionally, and another girl wearing glasses, doing what appeared to be some type of work. All of them looked like they were in too leisure of a mood to enter a tense battle of Turf War. So our Inklings continued to search. They waltzed through the plaza, searching the entire area, yet they found no-one good enough.

"Holy carp. All the good players are all out practicing for that stupid tournament," Toughie blurted out.

"What should we do?" Beanie worriedly asked.

"We'll keep looking!" Sunny shouted. "We're going to find a fourth teammate!"

"Look, I know that you want to have a full team, I get it, it's just more fun that way. But it's starting to get late, maybe we should..." Toughie was cut off by Sunny's firm voice.

"No, we will find someone, and we will convince them to join us," Sunny declared.

"Uhh, Sunny?" Beanie quietly asked.

"You found someone?" Sunny asked, his eyes now lit up with excitement. Beanie didn't turn his head, but he didn't need to for Sunny to know that good news was coming up.

"I didn't just find anyone, I found one of the best around!" Beanie exclaimed.

It seems that it is time to introduce another Inkling, a rather popular and rather talented Inkling. An Inkling that answers to the name of Rider. He wore a White Inky Rider, 18K Aviators and is not the same Rider as in the one from the official manga. And he acts like, you know what, I'll let you make your judgment on him as the story progresses.

"Hey, Rider!" Sunny called out. The call was loud, but that wasn't what caught the attention of Rider, it was the tone of the voice. It was similar to that of a greeting, a greeting that one would give to an old friend. Rider turned his head in confusion, only to see three very excited looking Inklings. "Hey, over here, Rider!" Sunny yelled out. Rider simply sighed as he eyed the three of them. Before simply turning away and walking the other direction. But the yelling didn't stop there. "RIDER! COME BACK HERE!" Sunny yelled. The sudden shift in volume jolted Rider, turning him around to eye the same, three, loud Inklings. Rider sighed once more, but this time, he headed straight towards them.

"All right, what is it that is so important for you to call me out so urgently, especially on a day like this?" Rider sternly demanded.

"Well, we want YOU to join our team for a special onetime offer!" Sunny shouted out like a crazy salesman. "With us, you get nothing but fun, fun, and more FUN!" Despite the rather straight forward approach, Rider couldn't be more confused than he was now.

"Wait, wait, wait, slow down, kid." Rider said, "You lost me at the 'offer'." This didn't stop Sunny, Beanie, and Toughie from smiling gleefully. Sunny then started to speak again.

"Well, let us be more clear about our offer." Sunny said, losing the crazy shouting from before.

"Well then stop stalling and start talking." Rider said.

"Very well." Sunny said, "Beanie, take over for me, please."

"With pleasure." Beanie happily declared. "Anyway, what our onetime offer holds is fun, and by fun, we mean fun. And ixnay on any toxic behavior. That's it."

"No substitutions, exchanges, or refunds." Toughie quickly added. Rider simply rubbed his eyes in confusion, and shook his head.

"Is this a joke?" Rider then blurted out, much to the confusion of the three Inklings. "Alright, who did it? Oree? Gingee?" Rider shouted out, completely ignoring the three Inklings in front of him. "Let me just say, if it is one of you, this joke is far below the bar you set." Rider than seemed to have a random realization. "Oh no, please don't let it be Grape, she never knows when to end a joke." Rider groaned.

"Uh, Rider, this isn't a joke." Sunny said. "We really want you to come with us for some Turf War." Rider was silent for a short moment, but then let out a burst of laughter. Sunny was slightly taken back, Beanie was hopelessly confused, and Toughie was frowning heavily. Not that Rider noticed or even cared. Eventually, Rider's lungs could no longer continue laughing. And when he stopped, he turned to face the three Inklings, smirking. "Wow, that's a good, no a great joke, you should go for broke in the comedy business!" Rider roared, before laughing again. Toughie was having none of Rider's words.

"How 'bout you stop that laughter and join our team, before one of your lung's pop." Toughie said, coldly. "I'm not spending another hour looking for another Inkling."

"Oh, sure. But first, You need to show me something." Rider said. "I need to see if you can keep up with me and my skills. 'cause from what I'm seeing, I can beat you with my Hero-shot and Hero-shot along." Arrogance and pride oozed from Rider's body like a sponge in the sun. And it was starting to annoy Sunny.

"Alright." Sunny exclaimed, "If you're so confident about your skills, then we challenge you to a battle, 3 to 1! If we give up, you win. But if you use anything other than your Hero-shot, we win."

"Well, I'll be happy to oblige to your request with those terms." Rider said. "Now, what's your favorite map?" Rider asked. This time, it was Toughie that spoke up.

"Meet us at Blackbelly Skatepark." Toughie answered. Rider smirked at the three of them before speaking up again.

"Well, see you then. I hope you bring your best, not that it actually mattered."

"WHAT!" Toughie roared in response to Rider's insult. He then raised his fist, and would have sent it straight towards Rider's face, if not for the interference of Beanie and Sunny. Eventually, Toughie dropped his fist, and calmed down. Sunny then walked up to Rider, staring at him, eye to eye.

"Meet us in an hour." Sunny said. You better bring your best effort. Or we will know."

"Trust me, you should worry about yourself before worrying about me." Rider retorted. And with that, all the Inklings turned around and walked away, preparing. Whatever the next hour will bring, one thing's for sure, this battle will be far from simple fun, it will be a battle to remember!


	4. 3 VS 1

Chapter 4 Splatoon: Sploon Squad

"Are you ready, kiddies?" Rider yelled from all the way from the other side of the map. He was wearing a white leather jacket, and sunglasses that hid his eyes rather well.

"You bet, Rider!" Sunny replied. The battle for pride begins in three... two... one... GO! The three Inklings ran forward, cautiously. Rider, on the other hand, shot forward like a rocket, meeting up with the three Inklings in no time. Rider then immediately fired his Hero Shot, splatting Sunny right off the bat. Beanie and Toughie instinctively split up, trying to flack Rider's current position. Rider simply jumped backwards, back flipping away from the incoming blasts. Rider than shot at Toughie's position, distracting him long enough for Rider to run up to him and splat him. Beanie transformed into his squid form, before swimming away from Rider.

Rider noticed as he then gave chase. But his chase was interrupted when Sunny dropped right in front of him from a platform, revived by the respawn point. Rider's reaction time wasn't quick enough to stop Sunny from drop-kicking him. Fortunately, for Rider, the drop kick wasn't a heavy one and he recovered rather quickly. He then aimed his Hero Shot at Sunny, and fired. Sunny transformed and swam away, just barely missing the shots from Rider. In frustration, Rider gave chase to Sunny, as he saw him turn a corner. But when Rider revealed himself from the corner, Sunny revealed his weapon. A large paint brush, with ink-tipped bristles! Sunny then swung his brush, back and forth, spraying ink in front of him. But the brush could spray ink far enough. Rider caught on quickly, and fired his Hero Shot. The shots hit their mark, splatting Sunny. Rider then fired ink to his left, creating a trail for him to swim in.

The trail ended at the bottom of a tall platform. Rider shot some ink at the wall, before swimming up the wall, landing himself at the top of the platform. Rider now had a full view of the entire map. He managed to spot Toughie with a roller, creating a long, thick trail of ink behind him. Now Rider had no long ranged charger, but he saw that Toughie was getting closer. And best of all, Toughie had failed to notice Rider on the tall platform, as he was to focused on inking the ground. Rider then prepared to fire, as Toughie got closer and closer.

But unbeknownst to Rider, Beanie had snuck up from behind, with his Slosher at the ready. Rider was far too focused on Toughie to look behind him. Beanie readied his Slosher to send a big splash of ink at Rider's direction. He inches forward, pulling his Slosher as far as he could and... Rider aims his Hero Shot over his shoulder, firing behind him, and splatting Beanie. Toughie heard the sound of splatting and looked up to see Rider right above him. But before he could do anything, Rider jumped from the platform and fired his Hero Shot, splatting Toughie instantly.

Back at spawn, Beanie was so shocked that he couldn't move. When Toughie returned, he immediately super jumped to where Sunny was located. And that location was very close to Rider.

"Hey, did you see what happened to Beanie?" Sunny asked.

"Not exactly, If you couldn't tell, I got myself splatted." Toughie replied. Sunny simply sighed heavily.

"He aimed and shot over his shoulder, and splatted Beanie without looking." Sunny said, fighting through some heavy breaths.

"You serious!?" Toughie cried out. "That's actually not possible in the slightest in the game! You sure you're not pulling my leg?"

"Oh he's not pulling any legs today," said a voice. Sunny and Toughie look up, shocked at the sight of Rider standing on a platform above them.

"Rider! How did you find us so quickly? The game shouldn't allow that!" Toughie barked. Rider simply chuckled.

"Like I care. If you must know, I saw you two super jump to this area." Rider stated, "Besides, did you really think that I wouldn't have noticed with you lack of subtly? How are supposed to make **secret plans** then?" Toughie raised his roller, clearly trying to send it crashing down on Rider. But unfortunately for Toughie, all Rider had to do was sidestep to his left, Toughie's right, and fire a volley of ink, straight for Toughie's body. It didn't take too long for Toughie to be splatted. Sunny then raised his Inkbrush like a sword, a pose that Rider simply laughed at.

"Ha ha ha! What are trying to be?" Sunny answered with surprisingly fast charge, but Rider simply shot a small volley at the ground, slowing Sunny down to a grinding halt.

"AHHH, COME ON!" Sunny exclaimed.

"You really thought that I wouldn't know the weakness of the Inkbrush?" Rider taunted, "A weapon that's best optimized as an ambush weapon?" Rider then chuckled. "Face it, kid." Rider said, "You and me, we're just on completely different levels. You know, I actually thought about playing along with you guys in some boring Turf Wars out of pity. But looking at you now, I quickly realized that that would be a big mistake." Sunny then chuckled, much to the confusion of Rider. "What?" Rider asked, "What so funny?"

"You know, I just remembered the bet we agreed on, don't you?" Sunny asked, "You use any other weapon that isn't your Hero-shot and it's game over for you. And that comment about mistakes, well, I'm gonna take that as a compliment." Rider aimed his Hero-shot at Sunny's face.

"Are you sure all the lights are on upstairs?" Rider asked, inciting a chuckle from Sunny.

"Oh yeah, they are all on! Remember, it only takes one slip up for everything to go south. And if you really think teaming up with us is a mistake, then we better teach you some lessons!" Rider's face held a mixture of confusion and irritation, before immediately replacing them with shock, as out of nowhere, both Beanie and Toughie start splashing ink everywhere, freeing Sunny and distracting Rider.

"WHAT!?" Rider blurted out, before managing to dodge the shots of ink, leaving the two Inklings wide open. "HAH! YOU'RE ALL OPEN NOW!" Rider yelled, with a wicked smile on his face, but suddenly,

"DID YOU REALLY FORGET ABOUT ME!?" Sunny yelled, with his Inkbrush raised like a sword, ready to slash down at Rider. Rider's instincts kicked into high gear, as he managed to dodge all the ink from that brush and the brush itself. But then, Rider's instincts made a grave error. Instead of firing his Hero-shot, he reached for something else. A large water balloon filled with ink was thrown. Before the realization could sink in for Rider, Sunny then zipped forward, right in front of Rider, and with three simple swipes from his brush, splatted Rider and ending the prideful battle in a victory for the three young Inklings.

"YEAH!" Sunny yelled in celebration, pumping his fists into the air. Beanie joined in the celebration while Toughie clenching his fists in victory. In their celebration, they completely ignore Rider, and his seething rage. The face that Rider held was one that would wet the pants of most Inklings. It just seems that Sunny, Beanie, and Toughie are the minority. In fact, it actually seemed to entertain them.

"Oh man, look at that face!" Toughie exclaimed, laughing as he pointed at Rider. This did nothing to calm Rider down, as he slowly clenched his fists and his face contorted more and more.

"You better watch that mouth of yours before I kick you sorry butt here and now!" Rider threatened. But then, Rider was then greeted by a wagging finger from Beanie.

"Nuh uh uh." Beanie said, smiling. "Remember our bet?" At this point, Rider was growling, as his anger started to physically heat up his body.

"If you use any weapon other than your Hero-shot, you have to join our team." Sunny cut in. For a split second, the moment he saw Sunny's smug look, his rage spiked. He clenched his fists harder and harder, and he was holding back a serious knuckle sandwich. But then, his anger started to dissipate. He took several deep breaths and he started to calm down.

"Fine, I'll join your team, but you owe me a big one!" Rider growled, "You better not forget it!"

"Oh don't worry, Rider." Sunny replied. "We're not done showing all our little tricks."

"Meet me at the Plaza tomorrow, 1:00. That's noon, in case you don't know." Rider stated. "Deal?"

"Deal." Toughie replied. And with those words, Rider immediately super jumped away, leaving the three, young Inklings behind. The three of them looked on before super jumping away from Blackbelly Skatepark, heading straight for their homes. With no need for any goodbyes from any of them, they all knew that the battle for pride was far from over, and all three of them will have to prepare for the next day.


	5. The Turf War Match with Rider

Chapter 5 Splatoon: Sploon Squad

The sun rose, bringing daylight onto Inkopolis, and continuing the oh so busy cycle of life in the city. And on this day, Sunny didn't need any music to wake him up; he wasn't even remotely groggy. Sunny then leaped from his bed, grabbed his clothes from the day before, and swiftly snatched his trusty Ink-brush. With all those items with him, Sunny then immediately burst out of his home, and straight towards the Plaza. It didn't take him long for him to arrive at the pace he was running, and once he arrived, he also instantly managed to spot out Beanie and Toughie from the crowd. Wow, Sunny seems to be very determined today, doesn't he?

Oh, and also, it didn't take long for Beanie and Toughie to see Sunny heading their way. "You all ready?" Sunny then asked. The two Inklings nodded before all three of them headed for Inkopolis Tower, a tall, green tower that holds a suspicious resemblance to an ancient tower in a place called Tokyo. Ahh, whatever, that doesn't matter. What does matter is that Rider could be seen standing by the outer doorway, eyes closed, arms crossed, and wearing same the White Inky Rider and 18K Aviators and carrrying that same grumpy expression on his face as he always does.

"Hey, Rider." Toughie called out. Rider opened his eyes, unfolded his arms, but kept his grumpy look.

"What took you guys so long?" Rider asked, or more, demanded. "I started to think you guys chickened out on me."

"Do you even know what phrase even means?" Was Toughie's reply. Sunny then cleared his throat.

"We're here now, aren't we?" Sunny then asked, "So why don't we start the match?" Sunny, Toughie and Beanie then walked further inside Inkopolis Tower. But they quickly noticed that Rider wasn't that closely behind them when they looked back, for Rider needed to take in one more obligatory deep breath, and letting it out in one, long sigh. Then Rider followed the three Inkling friends as they walked further inward.

Once they entered the lobby, it took about several long minutes for a match to be found for the four Inklings, but when it was found, the impatient Inklings all sighed. "Took them long enough." Toughie said. Instantly, all four of the Inkling's hair color turned form their normal colors into a light green color.

"Wait, hold on. How can our hair change colors?" Toughie then asked.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's just a game mechanic to tell you what team you're on and what color our ink is." Beanie answered.

"Just how long do we have to wait for that to be ignored later in the story?" Rider then muttered. The four Inklings then headed towards a spawn point teleporter, a raise, metallic, circular pad that looks identical to a Turf War spawn point. The only difference is the function of sending Inklings towards the Turf War. Our Inklings then stepped foot on the teleporter, and almost immediately, the four Inklings find themselves at the map, Camp Triggerfish. This wooden summer playground has a split down the middle, splitting the map into two sides, pushing aggressive tactics to grab victory. Right now, Sunny and his friends readied themselves, eyeing the unmarked turf all around them. The countdown has started, and the match begins in three... two... one... GOOO! Instantly, Sunny and Rider instantly covered the entire area surrounding the spawn point, while Beanie and Toughie rush forward, covering as much turf as they could. Before long, Beanie, wielding a Slosher, encountered another Inkling, a girl wearing a Straw Boater with a green, Zip Hoodie, with her ink color being blue.

"Oh, hey there!" Beanie greeted. "You almost caught me off guard." Beanie then took a split second to look at the weapon that the Inkling girl's weapon. "An N-Zap 85, a decent weapon for beginners." Just as Beanie finished saying those words, he began to splash some ink at her direction. Due to the girl's poor composure, she couldn't properly aim her weapon at Beanie, therefore allowing him to splat the inkling girl with two splashes of ink. "Sorry 'bout that! If you keep your composure next time, you might get me!" Beanie exclaimed, before going back to covering turf.

Now with Toughie, he, with his trusty Krak-On Roller, has already covered much of the enemy's turf. But being in enemy territory, it was only a matter of time before he encountered an enemy squid.

"Hah! Got 'cha, Sketch!" An Inkling boy yelled out. He wore a blue Bike Helmet, matching with his ink color, and a Baseball Jersey. He also wielded a rather hefty looking Splatling gun.

"Did you seriously just call out your attack?" Toughie rhetorically asked. You just ruined your surprise attack!" It's a shame Bikey here isn't the brightest bulb in the house, so try not to be too harsh on him when this happens.

"What are you talkin' about? I've got you right where I want-" But before Bikey could finish, Toughie brought down his Krak-On Roller right on top of Bikey's head, splatting him then and there.

"Jeez, I took you for a being an idiot, but I didn't think you'd be that stupid." Toughie said, before eyeing another Inkling boy. This time, wearing a pair of Black Arrowbands, a Black Layered shirt, and a pair of Black Trainer shoes, wielding a Splosh-o-Matic. And he seemed to be in a state of shock.

"What the...? What just happened?" The boy asked, but before he could fire his weapon, Toughie splatted him with one swing of his roller.

"The same thing that happened to you." Toughie answered, he then changed to his squid form and swam away before any other enemy Inklings could reach him. Back with Sunny and Rider, they were on the top of a wall, using the high ground to cover the ground below. Sunny was busy using his Inkbrush to cover the area, while Rider fired away with his Hero Shot. But Rider wasn't covering any turf, at least any turf he covered wasn't intentional. Rider aimed his Hero Shot at a random, unlucky Inkling and fired. Fortunately for the random Inkling, he managed to swim away, barely. But said Inkling wasn't the first one that Rider fired at. And Sunny had noticed something was off.

"Hey, don't you think you should help me cover the turf?" Sunny asked. Rider simply chuffed.

"Na, why don't you continue on," Rider replied. "You seem to be doing just fine without me."

"Uh, what?" Sunny asked, in disbelief at what he heard come right out of Rider's mouth.

"Tell you what, I'll get rid of all these pesky Inklings in the way. That sound like a good deal to you?"

"What? No!" Sunny yelled. "You, of all Inklings, should know that is not how you win a game of Turf War!" Rider only smirked.

"Yeah, I know that. It's just..." Rider started. At this point, Sunny was done with Rider and his actions.

"It's just what, Rider?" Sunny yelled. Rider's smirk soon turned into a scowl.

"It's just," Rider started, as he tightened his grip on the Hero Shot. "I don't think I can get serious in a simple Turf War, you know what I mean?"

"Or you're actively trying to sabotage our match, which by the way, is a match with my friends that I haven't hung out with in a while, and you'll make us lose so that you can vent your anger on us and those other Inklings, so you can get payback for your loss yesterday. Did I leave anything out?" Sunny asked.

"No, sounds like you got me figured out." Rider answered. "The bigger question is, what are you gonna do about it?" Rider then asked.

"Something that's not gonna make me sad anytime soon." Sunny answered, before sneaking behind Rider, cocking his leg back, and landing a hard kick to Rider's right leg. Rider yelled in surprise, as the kick wasn't too hard to hurt too much, but it definitely made him lose his balance. And all it took was a little nudge from Sunny, and Rider tumbled down before landing face first on the ground below.

"WHY YOU...!" Rider growled, clenching his fists, and glaring up at Sunny with eyes burning fiercely. Not that it actually scared Sunny, in fact, Sunny simply placed a cheeky grin on his face, and swam right off in his squid form. "I will flippin' SQUASH YOU!" Rider roared as he gave chase in squid form. After a while, Sunny got out of squid form and began to simply run. Rider soon took this opportunity to leap out of squid form, and begin firing his Hero Shot, not giving a care about where the shots would eventually land on. It didn't matter to him, as long as it brought him closer to hitting Sunny, it was all he needed. And how was Sunny taking this? Oh, he's just laughing, even though he was fully aware of the raging Inkling chasing him with the intent to make his day miserable.

"Come on, is this all you high ranking squids could do?" Sunny taunted. "I can outrun this in my sleep!"

"Oh, I'll give you a nice, up-close and personal demonstration of what I can do!" Rider yelled back, still firing his Hero Shot.


	6. A Strange End for a Turf War

Chapter 6 Splatoon: Sploon Squad

Two blue Inklings, Bikey from before, and an Inkling girl wearing a yellow shirt and white headband, ran around, trying to recover as much turf as they could, but it seemed that their efforts were simply, kinda useless in the long run.

"Hey, you think I'm doing good, here?" The girl shyly asked, Bikey didn't answer right away, for he was busy covering turf with his Splosh-o-Matic, but he did actually hear the question being asked, and once he felt that he was finished, he turned to face the young Inkling girl with a smile on his face.

"Oh, yeah! You're doin' great!" Bikey answered.

"Really? Yay!" The girl exclaimed.

"So, what do ya say to claiming some more turf?" Bikey asked. The girl pumped her fists in response.

"Yeah, let's go!" The girl yelled. But before they could do anything, they then saw Sunny just run past them, followed by a very angry Rider. Both of them ignored them as if they were ghosts.

"Hold on, isn't that guy chasing the other guy, Rider?" The girl asked, nervously.

"As in the Phantom Rider? Y-yeah." Bikey stuttered. "Say, why don't we just get outta here?"

"No, we should go after them. We must stop them from taking our hard earned turf!" The girl stated. She then proceeded to grab Bikey by his arm, but not before Sunny ran past them again.

"Him again? What's his deal?" Bikey asked.

"I don't know." The girl replied. But before they could continue, both of them were then splatted by the stray shots of Rider's Hero Shot, which also covered the area in lime green ink.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Bikey yelled as he was teleported back to spawn.

"Good, seems like me plan's working." Sunny said. "I didn't think it would, I literally just thought of it when I saw those other Inklings. Better for me I guess! Now, I just gotta keep this up until he either wears himself out," Sunny then took one quick glance at Rider, before quickly looking forward again. "Yeah, like that's ever gonna happen! I guess I better just tough it out until the time's up!"

* * *

Beanie and Toughie have found themselves double teaming against two blue Inklings, Mr. Arrowhead, and Straw Boater girl. And right now, the blue Inklings were winning. Toughie and Beanie took cover behind a small platform, but the two are running out of ink to hide in and shoot with. Beanie then just barely manages to avoid being splatted by shots of ink, as he and Toughie huddled closer.

"Hey, Beanie!" Toughie then yelled.

"Yeah?" Beanie then asked, looking away from the approaching enemy ink to look at Toughie.

"You got a hold on Sunny and that Rider jerk yet?" Toughie asked, his voice filled with urgency.

"I've tried, I've pressed the _This Way_ button at least ten times by now!" Beanie answered. "They must be busy with something right now!"

"Well, what does that mean for us?" Toughie then asked.

"It means _**we're stuck**_ , and I'm out of ink to get out of this mess!" Beanie yelled.

"You're out of ink? Since when?" Toughie demanded, as he then grabbed Beanie by the shoulder.

"Since five seconds ago!" Beanie yelled. Toughie then groaned in frustration.

"You know, for being some big hot shot pro, Rider seems to be real, flippin' slow when it comes to actually-" But before he could finish his sentence, the two Inklings then heard the sound of an Inkbrush being pushed across the floor. And before long, the Inklings could catch a glimpse of Sunny heading straight towards them. "Heh, took you long enough!" Toughie said, "Now, how 'bout we squash some these squid-" And before he could complete his sentence, Sunny zips right past him.

"SORRY ABOUT THE WAIT, THIS WILL ALL MAKE SENSE IN A MOMENT!" Sunny then yelled before turning left on a corner. And the very instant that Beanie opened his mouth to say something, Rider zooms right past the two of them, instantly splatting the two blue Inklings and leaving a huge trail of light green ink.

"You know what, if the writer's gonna cut us off every time we speak, why even bother with the dialogue?" Toughie then asked.

"I don't know, I just hope this doesn't happen agai-" The sound of the clock reaching the final minute is heard. "OH COME ON!"

"Great, we've got a minute left." Toughie said.

"I'll try my best not to mess up." Said Beanie. The two then split up, covering whatever remained untouched by light green ink. Back with Sunny and Rider, both Inklings are still running, but Rider isn't showing any signs of slowing down, which is bad for Sunny, as he's starting to lose his pace.

"Finally! Only a minute left." Said Sunny. "Just gotta hold out for a little bit longer!"

"What's so hard about staying still, you little punk?" Rider then yelled. Sunny simply let out a smile in response.

"I don't know, I was always told that I was the fidgety kid back home!" Sunny said, ever so casually. Even giggling afterwards.

"Yeah, you better get your laughs out now, Cause once I'm through with you, you'll be nothing but a wet, soggy mess!" Rider roared, continuing to fire his Heroshot, splatting those unlucky enough or dumb enough to stand in his way. Right now, only thirty seconds remain on the clock.

 _Come on, just a few more seconds then I can rest my legs!_ Sunny thought, _Actually, I'll be lucky to even have legs to rest when this is over!_ Sunny though, as he felt his legs ache as he ran. "Come on, just fifteen more seconds!" Sunny said, gritting his teeth as he pushed his body past its limits. But Rider saw this as well, and his body had yet to even reach max fatigue.

"Oh, I'm getting closer!" Rider boasted, "Don't even try to fight when I catch you!" Ten seconds remained on the Turf War clock. Sunny tried his absolute hardest to stay ahead of his chaser, but he knew that he had to avoid falling into a pattern. The two Inklings had already lapped the stage four times, nearly covering the entirety of Camp Triggerfish in light green ink. The team of blue Inklings have all but given up as they simply stood aside so they could watch the chase unfold. Some of them even made bets on whether or not Rider would catch Sunny. Right now, Sunny and Rider have found themselves near by the enemy spawn point, but suddenly, Rider makes a sudden u-turn, while Sunny continues on the same path. He hasn't turned his head due to not wanting to slow his momentum, so he fails to notice where Rider went, but he did notice that he wasn't being shot at anymore. Sunny then decides to turn his head to look behind him, and finds himself to being alone for now. Eight second remain on the clock.

"What the... Where did he...?" Sunny muttered, but before he could finish his train of thought, Rider suddenly jumps from a metal catwalk, landing right in front of Sunny. Luckily for Sunny, his reflexes are fast enough to save him from Rider's wrath, but he now found himself trapped. Toughie and Beanie finally reached where their friend was, as a mere five seconds remain on the clock. Without any words, Beanie and Toughie jump in and land right behind where Rider was. Beanie then flung a surprise shot, which Rider barely managed to dodge.

Four seconds left, Rider's dodge has landed him near the range of Toughie's Krak-On Roller. Toughie then swings his roller down on Rider. Rider then immediately dodges the attack.

"You think that'll be enough to beat me?!" Rider yelled, with a cocky smirk plastered on his face. He quickly then searches for Sunny, finding attempting to create a trail up the wall. Sunny then turned his head only to then immediately dodge a shot from Rider.

Three seconds left. Sunny then throws a Sprinkler right at Rider's feet, causing him to fall back for a moment before instantly destroying the annoying, little contraption with his Heroshot.

"What happened to your Splat Bombs, kid?" Rider asked in mocking tone. "Did the writers retcon your Inkbrush?"

"Actually, they've fixed it so that my Inkbrush is more accurate." Sunny answered.

"Oh, you'll start to wish that they shouldn't have done that!" Yelled Rider.

Two second left. Beanie and Toughie dash forward, with their weapons ready. But neither of them got a shot out, as Rider swiftly spun around and threw two burst bombs at the two Inklings, forcing them back.

One second left. Sunny stayed where he stood, holding on to his Inkbrush with the intent to strike back. Rider wastes no time, as he then swims a short distance, before leaping into the air and he clenches his finger on the trigger and...!

TIME! Rider couldn't manage to fire a shot before the clock struck zero, and therefore, his ink had no effect of Sunny. Even more good news for Sunny, Judd the cat has done his job and has placed Light Green team as the winners of this Turf War match!

"Yeah, we did it!" Sunny yelled. He then raised his right hand high into the air. "Who wants a high five?" Beanie and Toughie both give their high fives, low fives, and mid fives. The Blue team on the other hand, they were trying to evaluate what had just happened under the course of ten seconds.

"I could barely see what they were doing." Said the Knit-cap girl. "It was like they had superspeed!"

"Seriously, how do I get that main protag luck?" The Glasses boy asked.

"Auuhgg! Why do I get stuck with the Inklings that break the rules, WHEN I'M LOW ON MONEY!?" Bikey rhetorically asked-yelled.

"So this is what they call _Plot Armor_?" Headband girl said. "It's **beautiful**." Anyway, despite the Light Green teams celebration, one person on the team wasn't happy at all.

"Tch. You better watch yourself next time." Rider growled. "You pull off a trick like that again, and you won't be so lucky."

"Trust me, if I relied on my luck to save me, I would found myself worse off than the humans." Sunny then said.

"If this is a segue into some dumb speech about the power of friendship, don't even bother." Rider sternly said. "I'm going home." He then proceeded to walk away.

"Um, Rider?" Sunny then called out. Rider let out an annoyed groan.

"Oh, come on, what is it this time?" Rider asked. Sunny then pointed at the spawn point, which was opposite to where Rider was walking.

"Spawn Teleporter's that way." Sunny stated. "Leaving on foot's gonna be a long walk." Rider turned his head to take one last glance at the Inklings, before looking away for the last time.

"I'll take my chances." Rider answered back. And with those last words, Rider calmly walks off into the distance, leaving the three Inklings behind.


	7. The Strange Phone Call

Chapter 7 Splatoon: Sploon Squad

Morning had finally dawned on Inkopolis, and someone is still sleeping in their bed. With both shutters and curtains closed as well. Sunny had some trouble sleeping the previous night, the same night of the match with Rider. When it was time for him to sleep, the adrenaline that came from the chase had yet to leave. So it took some time for him to finally fall asleep, and even once he found himself adrift in the world of sleep, his dreams weren't exactly stress-free. Eventually, Sunny finds himself unable to lay still in the silence of the room. To fix this awkward silence, Sunny reached for his phone, plugged in his earphones, and played a cheerful tune. And with the silence now gone, Sunny closed his eyes again. Then suddenly, his phone began to ring, surprising Sunny, making him fall off his bed.

Once Sunny recovers from the fall, he reaches for his phone and checks the number calling him. On the screen, Sunny saw a number which he did not recognize, mostly due to the fact that it wasn't the name of any of his friends or family. So Sunny did what he usually does when called by an unknown number, he hung up. He then resumed the music from earlier before placing the phone on the side table next to his bed, before returning to his bed and closing his eyes once more. That is, until the phone rang again.

Sunny slowly opened his eyes, irritated that someone was calling him this at this time.

"Stupid salesman." Sunny groaned, before picking up the phone, removing the earphones and looking at the number. Sunny then saw that the number on screen was the exact same number from before. "Okay..." Sunny said, before tapping the green icon, and accepted the call. He then placed the phone to his ear and said, "Hello?" Sunny had hoped that maybe whoever was on the opposite end would either not talk or just be a salesman trying to sell him something that he doesn't even care about. Unfortunately for Sunny, neither happened to be the case.

"Why, hello there." A voice greeted him. "I hope I didn't disturb your sleep." The voice sounded calm, and had a slight hint of flair, but Sunny was slightly unnerved by this voice. It sounded like someone who would try and cheat you out of something you owned. Still, he figured he'd be polite and respond.

"Uh, hello." Sunny managed to say. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Oh, me? Just someone who's a fan." The voice answered. Now, Sunny definitely knew something was wrong, the tone of the voice had subtly shifted to one that was the very definition of malicious intent. Thankfully, the person on the opposite end didn't seem to know Sunny's name was yet, as he hadn't heard his name uttered once from the voice. "Let me just tell you," The voice then started, "I saw your match yesterday, and that move you did against Rider, ohhh, that takes some real guts." Uh oh. Sunny began to feel chills crawl up his spine. Official Turf War matches weren't exactly private, Inklings and other species had full access to spectate the matches as long as they don't interfere with the matches.

"Uh, thanks." Was all Sunny could muster to say.

"Your welcome." The voice replied. "But that's not what I called you for."

"Alright, what did you call me for?" Sunny then asked, trying to keep his voice as composed as possible.

"I called you so I could get you to participate in the Twin Splat Tournament." Sunny's heart dropped like a wrecking ball.

"I'm sorry, WHAT?!" Sunny yelled.

"You know, the Twin Splat Tournament, happens in two days, don't you know." The voice explained in a patronizing way.

"Yeah, I know that it is. You wanna know what else I know, I am never entering that tournament!" Sunny shouted.

"Oh, well, that's too bad. I was really looking forward to battling you and your team." The voice said, "Are you really sure you won't be entering the tournament?"

"Nothing you can do or say is gonna change my mind!" Sunny stated.

"Even if it makes you look like a coward?" Sunny was confused and extremely anxious.

"What do you...?"

"I mean, aren't you the one who sent an anonymous challenge to all the teams there?"

"What are you talking about, I never challenged anyone." Sunny then replied. "I don't want to anything to do with that stupid tournament!"

"Oh but you did! What do you think is gonna happen to you and your friends when they find out you backed down from your own 'challenge'? When they figure out that you were the spineless Inkling that ran away from the fight he started? Huh, what do you think?" The voice asked. At this point, Sunny realized what was happening.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Sunny then blurted out. "I accept the challenge."

"That's excellent!" The voice exclaimed. I'll see you at the ring." With those final words, the person on the other end had hung up, leaving Sunny speechless at what has just transpired.


	8. A New Day, a New Team

Chapter 8 Splatoon: Sploon Squad

The sun shined brightly and brilliantly on Inkopolis Plaza, which would obviously set the mood of today as one of bright and cheerful fun, wouldn't you say? Well, not for two particular Inklings, Toughie and Beanie, for their minds were occupied by the strange phone call they had received earlier in the morning. The call had woken them up earlier than they would have liked, but sleep was the last thing on their minds once the call ended. They had already contacted Sunny, who was slightly anxious to say the least, and had agreed to meet up at the Plaza. But Sunny was late, and the Plaza became much more crowded than usual.

"Come on, Sunny, hurry up." Toughie mumbled, he then tried to make his way through the crowd, with Beanie following closely. "We'll never find Sunny in this crowd. We gotta get our butts past it."

"I think Sunny knows that too," Beanie then said. "So I wouldn't worry about that too much."

"HEY, TOUGHIE! BEANIE!" A familiar voice yelled. The two Inklings turned to see Sunny running towards them, relatively far from the crowd.

"See?" Beanie then said, turning back to face Toughie. "I told you not to worry about Sunny." He then ran to his friend. Toughie soon followed suit. "Sunny!"

"You guys are here!" Sunny then exclaimed. "That's great!" But then, Sunny's expression quickly turned serious. "So I heard you guys got a weird call too, huh?" Both Inklings nodded. "And they asked you to enter the tournament?"

"Yeah, and whoever this creep is, I intend to sock him in the face for putting you guys in this position." Toughie responded.

"As entertaining as that would be, I really think we should worry about that later." Sunny then said. "Right now, we have to find a fourth member for our team."

"Then you guys are in luck." A voice called out. The three Inklings quickly turned to the direction of the voice, which lead them to see Rider, wearing the same Inky White Rider and 18K Aviators, leaning on a wall nearby.

"Rider?" Sunny blurted out. "What are you doing here? And what do you mean about us being lucky?" Sunny then asked.

"I think the better question to ask is why we should count ourselves lucky with you as a teammate?" Toughie then demanded.

"Because I also got that strange phone call," Rider answered, which, while Sunny and his friends had a hunch, they weren't expecting such a concise answer. "And I have a feeling that can help you guys get through this problem." Rider then said.

"Did the guy on the phone tell you to do anything?" Sunny then asked.

"He stated that I had to join up with your team." Rider replied.

"But this guy mentioned that he sent a challenge to the other teams." Toughie then said. "But then what's stopping us from just telling everyone in the tournament that we didn't send that challenge in the first place?"

"Cause I'm getting the feeling that this guy's gonna try real hard to find a way to pin it back on us, somehow." Rider responded. "And there's a big chance that this guy is gonna use any chance he has to keep an eye on us. So for now, just don't mention anything about a challenge to any other team, keep that between us. We do that, we'll just put a huge target on our backs."

"So what, does that mean we'll just have to play along with this creep's plan?" Toughie asked. Suddenly, Rider then shushed Toughie. He then motioned everyone to get closer.

"You guys are lucky the crowd is paying more attention to something else right now, we can't arouse any sort of suspicion, for all we know this guy could use that as ammo." Rider then whispered. Everyone then nodded.

"Okay, so what do we do now?" Beanie then asked.

"I'll get us registered for the tournament." Rider stated. "I don't know if there are any slots still open, so we should probably book it."

* * *

"So this is the registration?" Toughie asked. "Man, can this place get any more crowded?" The four Inklings were struggling to make their way through the dense crowd that surrounded a massive arena-like structure. But it wasn't impossible, and once they pasted the ticket booths, they could walk through the area, dealing with a much smaller group of people. In their way was a short like of Inklings in front of a small building with a wide open at the front.

"This is the registration area?" Beanie then asked. "I'll be honest, I was expecting a small table with a tent on top, not a whole concrete structure."

"The line doesn't look that long, let's get registered." Rider then said, as he and the others positioned themselves at the back of the line. The wait was not long at all, and after several minutes, our four Inklings have found themselves standing in front of the opening. Behind the opening sat a young, Inkling girl with a bright-eyed look and wide smile on her face. She took a single glance at the four Inklings, not dropping her smile for anything.

"Hello there. Are you here to register for the tournament?" The girl asked. A clearly redundant question that shouldn't have to be answered. But Rider answered anyway.

"Yes, we are." Rider said, sounding very professional to the Sunny and his friends. "We were hoping to gain a spot on the bracket." He continued. The girl's happy expression seemed to break for a split-second, but realizing that her behavior could give the wrong impression, she immediately resumed the cheerful expression.

"Oh, uhh. Is that so?" The girl asked, "Well, there is a slight problem with that." Toughie began to grow confused and impatient.

"Problem?" He said. "Problem? What problem?"

"Well, the bracket has already been finalized."

"What?" Rider asked. The girl had become nervous.

"Well, it has been finalized since yesterday." The girl answered. "You didn't know, sir?" Our Inklings didn't know what to say. On one hand, the feeling of relief had silently surfaced at the news. But our Inklings felt that they would not be let off that easily by the man on the phone.

"Oh, but we can register you and your team as one of the backup teams, sir." The girl then said. The air of relief immediately vanished, but everyone had to hide their disappointment.

"Oh, well that's good. Right?" Beanie then asked. "So what are we waiting for?"

"So we'll be a backup team?" Rider then asked. The girl nodded. "I've never heard of a tournament that had backup teams."

"Yeah, how exactly does that work?" Sunny then asked. The girl's nervous demeanor had disappeared completely, replaced by a sudden giddiness.

"Oh, that? It simple. If one of the teams is caught cheating, they are disqualified and the match is redone with the backup team instead." The girl explained.

"Well what reason would Pro-Battlers have to cheat?" A curious Beanie asked.

"I don't know, people can do weird things sometimes." The girl responded, shrugging her shoulders.

"Alright, so what do I need to do to register?" Rider asked. The Inkling girl then immediately placed a pen and a single sheet of paper with many boxes to write in.

"Just write down your names, team name, and your qualifications, and there you go." The girl then sat back on her chair and began to wait. Rider then wasted no time, and with the provided pen, Rider quickly wrote down the names of himself, Sunny, Beanie, and Toughie, and wrote down all the information that he could draw from his memory about the three Inklings. The girl was shock, and slightly concerned at the speed of Rider's writing.

"Uh, there's no need to rush, sir." The girl said, stuttering slightly. Rider finally stopped writing, but the girl noticed that sheet was lacking a team name at the top. When the girl looked to ask, Rider immediately answered with,

"I couldn't think of anything for that." Rider then pointed at blank box. The girl became confused.

"You don't have a team name yet?" The girl asked.

"I've got a team name for us!" Beanie then exclaimed. Everyone turned to see the young Inkling with a proud look on his face. But before anyone could ask what he had, Beanie then took the pen from Rider's hand and quickly wrote down the name on the blank box. He then took the sheet and held it towards his friends. On the box where it said _Team Name_ , had the words, _Sploon Squad_.

" _Sploon Squad_?!" Rider blurted out. " _Sploon Squad_?! What the heck is a _Sploon Squad_?" Rider then asked.

"It's our team name." Beanie answered, all the while, keeping a proud smile on his face. "You like it?"

"Why _Sploon Squad_ of all things?" Rider asked again, clearly irritated.

"Because it's a cute sounding name, and it's different from all the Pro teams." Beanie explained.

"Huh, I like it." Sunny stated, much to the shock of Rider, who shot an intense glare at the young Inkling. "What? The name's fine."

"Wait, you guys can't seriously be considering _Sploon Squad_ as our team name!" Rider yelled. Toughie then sent a look of annoyance at Rider.

"I don't know what your problem is, but the name is fine." Toughie stated. Rider then growled for a quick moment, before calming himself down.

"Alright, fine!" Rider barked. "You guys want _Sploon Squad_ as your team name so bad, then go right ahead! Don't go whining at me when the other teams laugh us out of the match!"

"Alright, it's settled then!" Beanie stated, before handing the registration sheet to the Inkling girl, who had now returned to the nervous demeanor that she had before.

"Uhhm, v-very well then." The girl said. "Just wait right here, I'll get someone to show you to around the place."


	9. Settling In and Readying Up

Chapter 9 Splatoon: Sploon Squad

Our four Inklings waited for several long minutes outside, all the while growing ever more anxious as the other teams walked inside, before eventually, they were the only team outside. Once someone finally arrived, they were given a brief tour of the building, while being told a very short version of its history. But no one was really listening to said history. All they managed to catch was that the building itself was rather old and that was it. But finally, their guide stopped in front of a door adorned with a blank, metallic label.

"And this is your room." The female guide said, gesturing towards the doors. She then opened the door, revealing a decently sized room with two bunk beds, some futons placed at the back, a desk at the side, a small, folded table placed next to the futons, and even a bathroom could be seen.

"Wow, this isn't that bad of a room." Toughie then said. He then turned to look at the guide. "Do all your teams have rooms like this?"

"Well they have to be." The guide answered, "The tournament goes on for three days, where else are you guys gonna sleep in, outside with a tent?"

"Well, I'm not complaining." Sunny then said. All of a sudden, the guide then jolted as a sudden realization hit her head.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" The guide then yelled, catching everyone's attention. "Don't get comfy just yet, there's still one more place I have to show you guys!" The guide then bolted out of the room and past the door, but not before checking to see if the team was following her. When she noticed that they weren't, she walked back to see the four Inklings staring at the guide with mild confusion in their eyes.

"Oh, uh. I guess I should've waited for you guys to come along." The guide said, before letting out a nervous chuckle.

* * *

With the guide's help, it wasn't long before the Inklings reached a hallway with several doors lined up evenly. Beanie even noticed that the doors were adorned with labels that had, what he assumed, were the names of the other teams. The guide then gestured towards a door with a label that simply read, _Extra Lockers_.

"This is where the back-up teams keep their weapons and gear." The guide stated.

"Wait, so we're sharing with the other back-up teams?" Toughie then asked. The guide nodded in response.

"Though you wouldn't have to worry about that anyway, and even if you did, we usually don't allow for multiple teams in one locker room." The guide then said. She then pulled out four identical cards and handed each card to each member of Sploon Squad. "These will be your keycards for the locker room." The guide said, "If you lose one of them, you can ask for them at registration."

"Hold on a minute, you mentioned that we wouldn't have to worry about sharing with other teams." Rider then said, almost cutting off the guide. "How many back-up teams are there?"

"Well, the total number was 3 back-up teams, including you guys." The guide answered. "But for some reason, the other two just decided to forfeit." This bit of news was certainly not what the team had expected.

"They all forfeited? When?" Toughie asked.

"I can't remember when exactly, but both teams forfeited only an hour apart from each-other." The guide answered. Everyone was surprised.

"Only an hour apart?" Sunny repeated, "That doesn't sound right."

"I thought so too, but when asked for a reason, they both said that the pressure was too much and it was getting to them." The guide responded. "It's not really my business to pry anyway. And this tournament is kinda weird in how it deals with their teams."

"Anyway, is there a place where we could possibly train?" Rider suddenly asked, hoping to stray from the current topic.

"Oh yes, we do." The guide replied, "Would you like me to show you where it is now?"

"Yes." Rider responded. And with that, the guide lead the way, heading further inside the building.

* * *

"Here we are." The guide announced. Behind her was a large, open area with a complex set of platforms, inclines, and slopes.

"Woah. This is the training area? This place is bigger than the practice area back at the Plaza." Toughie then said.

"I don't think it's just a training area," Beanie stated, "I think it's an old stage."

Turns out, you'd be right." The guide said, "Apparently, this place was supposed to be used in Turf Wars when it was still new thing, but then everyone just went wherever they wanted for Turf War matches. So a map like this became kinda pointless."

"Wait, but what about the Ranked matches, or the Splatfests? Why didn't anyone think of this stage?" Sunny then asked.

"Well, everyone kinda forgot it was a thing until we found it." The guide answered. "Technically, this area isn't supposed to be used, but once the teams found out about this place, some of them asked if they could use it to tighten their teamwork or whatever you guys to while training." Rider wasn't interested, and when he checked the time on his phone, we was growing impatient.

"Well, this history lesson has been great and all, but I would like to know if there are any rules when you're practicing." Rider said. The guide placed her hand on her chin, before answering with,

"Well, there's really only rule, and that's to never battle with the other teams before their match for any reason. But other than that, that's it, really."

"And if someone else is using the training area?" Rider then asked. The guide responded with a soft, nervous laugh.

"Well, to be honest, we didn't think that far." The guide said. "But, they've gotta stop at one point, right? I mean, we're still living things."

"So, basically what you're saying is if someone is able to hog the training area, then we're flat out of luck?" Rider asked, eyeing the guide through his fancy shades.

"Yeah, 'fraid so." The guide answered. "Oh! The power to the stage is right over there." The guide then said, pointing to her right, guiding everyone's gaze at a small door with a large yellow warning label that had the words _Stage Power_ written on it.

"Oh, thanks." Sunny responded.

"Your welcome. Is there anything else I can do for you guys?" The guide then asked.

"No thanks." Rider said, bluntly. "I think we'll be on our way now." The guide nodded her head, and walked out of the training room. Rider then shifted his attention to the rest of the team. "Everyone got their weapons?" Rider then asked. Almost immediately, everyone revealed their weapons. Sunny tightly gripped his trusted Inkbrush, Beanie held his Slosher at his side, and Toughie had his Krak-On Splat Roller over his shoulder.

"Good, once I turn the power on, be ready for some harsh training."


End file.
